I just got back from a four day hike on the coastal trail.  This is the second time I’ve hiked this stretch and it was much easier to say the least.  Apparently a summer of living in the woods prepared me for the big trip.  Besides ripping the tail off of a chipmunk and a pair of exploding hiking boots everything went really well.

These photos are: Me, Me, Eagle Squad Cliff Photo, Caleb’s Fire (Dan Lit the Thing), Three People, Caleb and I.

It’s amazing what someone will do for a laugh.  I even cut my beard into a set of nasty handlebars for Italian pizza night.  I left it on for a few days, long enough to convince Virginia that I was going to make it a permanent style for me.  The look on my face is simply one of somebody that’s been getting paddled by fraternity brothers for 12 weeks.  Spending 3 months in the wilderness with no electricity and no ceramic shitter may seem like a good way to spend the summer…don’t get me wrong, it is…but maybe next year I’ll spend it seeing a therapist for my obviously masochistic tendencies.  All the best, I’m home now…but I’m leaving on a four day hiking trip in a couple of hours, then going white water rafting on the Ottawa river next weekend.

For those of you who know the place, that’s where I spent my two day with Caleb and Virginia.  It was nothing short of incredible.  We spent the day swimming and kayaking in Lake Superior, not to mention cooking a nice dinner over some hot coals on the beach.  It’s what life is all about.

Well, that’s all for now…the clock is ticking and the boat is in bound to pick me up and take me from enjoying my time off back to enjoying my job.  The Lord’s been good to me and all of you should be feeling extremely jealous…Virginia and I are living the life.

Well, we celebrated our nations birth by blowing things up.  Pictures say far more than words, so I’ve provided one of those…

Yes, the firework rifling off to the side narrowly missed my face.  It was, however, for my country and kin that I was risking life and limb.

Just a short photo montage for your enjoyment.  Above and to the left is the pickerel I caught being fried up, above and to the right is me in the latrine and finally on the bottom is our cabin.  You can see my tin-can garden growing on the rail.  Camp is going well, but taking a lot of energy and time.

MWA is somewhat short staffed this summer, and primarily in the roles which support staff so people are on edge about things somewhat.

Yesterday I took my final step into the annals of Canadian manhood when I lit a fire using naught but my hands.  Like my ancestors of a thousand years, I rubbed two sticks together and made fire.  This seemingly innocuous act separated me from droves of men and women who have walked this earth before me.

I miss my friends, I miss integrity and purpose.  What are we living for if not for ourselves?  After answering that question I ask myself if I would lay it all down and go back again to live in the Dominican Republic.  How I’ve missed it there.  They have need and I have opportunity, but once again I’d be putting off my education and any hope for a degree in the next four years…placing me at the rugged age of thirty before I finish school and have a family.  So now I wait for God’s hand in my life to push me in the direction I need to go.

Sometimes I feel as though I’m chasing a dream, or wasting my time.  My life without sacrifice for the sake of the cross is a life poorly lived so I persist to make decisions that might not make sense to my family and my friends.

Does it even make a difference?

Virginia and I spent our day off on Catherines cove today.  Lake Superior was warm enough to swim and we both took advantage of some sun…which seemed much more potent than it was in time of my youth and left us both slightly rosy in the cheeks despite our SPF30, liberally applied.

Two stops at Tim Horton and a couple of ice cream cones later, we’re back at the staff house and eager to get back to work…fresh and rejuvinated by the hot sun.

Life always seems to take a turn for the worst when you run short on something you need.  You suffocate when you run out of air, dehydrate when you run out of water and starve when you run out of food.  It’s strange though, how miserable life can be when the only needs we fulfill are necessities.  We want something more for ourselves and spend our whole lives chasing it.

Where does one find fulfillment, when nothing by nature is fulfilling…that is to say in and of itself?  Fulfillment requires something more than the act we’re performing, relative to the act and not the individual.  Where it comes from is inside.  When the act is something that we do, in as near an altruistic fashion as possible, for others, we find fulfillment.  Not in what we do, but in who we’re doing it for.

Life becomes very sad if we never learn to live beyond our own needs to surivive.  Air, food, water and warmth can be pretty boring if that’s all we have.

Well, I’ve starting developing my curriculum for survival classes today and this past week finished my certification for Low Ropes courses and Climbing walls.  That’s right…I’m a climbing all instructor now (who would have thought!)

Virginia is in-bound from the Soo and so are all the pets.

I caught a 3 pound Northern Pike on my 5th cast of the year and was nice enough to throw it back.

More to come…maybe even pictures.

In so much as one can be truly amazed, I find myself in such a state.  The past five days have really been eye opening.  Mostly, I’m amazed at how much can be accomplished in 10 weeks of camp.  Last summer I missed out on enough change that I could walk around camp and see a different place all together.  When you’re actually amidst the fray, the progress in camp seems slow and arduous, but witnessing first hand the before and after of such a large effort on the part of so many students is sobering.

So far the guys I’ve been working with have been pleasant company.  Staff aside, our “opening crew” students have been well motivated and enthusiastic.  I’m looking forward to an amazing summer and yet it hasn’t really started yet, without Virginia at my side (not withholding Ellie, Lola and Petunia)  I miss my love.

Some new staff have already come, along with some old friends.  It’s been wonderful catching up on old time with Jared and seeing Simone again.  Tom and Donna are back, and of course I spent the weekend with Peter and Darlene Bergs (tetrayoungins in tow).